Re: giving an iSeries system to each college (was LPAR - micropartitioning an i5-520) -- MIDRANGE-L

The local college my wife teaches "i5" stuff at requries of minimum of 6
students (if its a first level course like Intro to CL) or 4 if its a
continuation (of previous term, in this example CL II)............... or
clsoe to that number, some flex allowed it seems but not much

On 1/24/07, Michael Ryan <michaelrtr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:


The PIE program has been around for many years. The latest initiative
with the college in Nebraksa? Kansas? is new. Seems like they're going
great guns. In my experience it wasn't the lack of systems or
curriculum or instructors - it was the lack of students. Colleges are
not enthusiastic in providing classes for a small number of students,
especially when they can use the same classrooms and instructors to
teach classes that draw a lot of students.

On 1/24/07, albartell <albartell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Wow!  I am really impressed with what IBM has put together with this.  I
> heard about it at COMMON in Mnpls I believe and was excited about it at
that
> time but haven't heard much about it since.  I would be curious to know
what
> is included in the license agreement to see what restrictions are put in
> place.  For instance, based on this first sentence it doesn't appear
that
> you even need to be a college: "The System i Center will give you access
at
> no cost to the latest System i technology for teaching and research
purposes
> without the expense of your own System I"
>
> So could somebody that was curious and committed to learning about the
> System i5 get a LPAR through this program?  What about David Gibbs at
> midrange.com getting an LPAR for his purposes of serving the
community?  I
> am guessing they have a process of ruling out "time wasters" that
wouldn't
> amount to much other than signing in and not doing anything else with
it.
>
> Has anyone on the lists taken part of this initiative?  What are the
things
> you liked and what are the areas that need work?  I remember rants on
the
> lists 4 or 5 years ago about the fact that new blood wasn't entering the
> market and it looks like IBM is answering that call!
>
> Aaron Bartell
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark S. Waterbury
> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 10:04 AM
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> Subject: Re: giving an iSeries system to each college (was LPAR -
> micropartitioning an i5-520)
>
> Hi, Aaron:
>
> As part of the System i Academic Initiative, IBM has established a "hub"
> at University of Nebraska in Lincoln, -- a very large model 570 or 595,
and
> ANY college or university can join the IBM Academic Initiative (formerly
> PIE) and gain free access to this hub system -- userIDs and passwords
etc.
> are all provided (zero administration), with an IP address to connect to
> this system via TCP/IP over the Internet.
>
> See:
>
http://www-304.ibm.com/jct09002c/university/scholars/products/iseries/
>
> then click on the link "Access to System i Environment":
>
>
http://www-304.ibm.com/jct09002c/university/scholars/products/iseries/gettin
> g_started/equipment/hub.html
>
> The biggest problem with just "giving an AS/400 to each school" is that
most
> colleges don't have anyone on staff  with the expertise to set it up or
> maintain it, let alone perform routine software tasks such as installing
> additional LPPs, or ordering and applying PTFs, etc.  So, what usually
> happens is, an IBM business partner or some other "sponsor"
> (usually a local IBM iSeries customer) may volunteer to help the college
to
> set it up initially, but from then on, it remains fairly static and
"frozen
> in time." I know of several colleges who are still running V4R5 because
no
> one on campus has the necessary knowledge or the time (or they are
afraid)
> to load a new release of the OS, etc.  And, some colleges even have
older
> AS/400 systems not capable of running the newest releases.
>
> Even worse, very often, local college or university "politics" actually
> prohibits the faculty from connecting ANY "unauthorized" hardware to the
> campus network or performing any software maintanance tasks on "servers"
> -- these tasks MUST be performed only by the college's authorized
internal
> IT support staff, who are usually already overworked, so the last thing
they
> want is to have to learn all about yet another kind of system to
maintain.
> These are NOT Windows or Unix/Linux systems, so their existing skills,
> knowledge and experience does not help much.
>
> Also, believe it or not, many colleges WILL NOT ACCEPT older "donated"
> hardware -- they only want brand new equipment that is under warranty,
> supported by the vendor, etc.
>
> So, there you have it. Encourage your local colleges and universities to
> join the IBM System i Academic Initiative -- there is no cost to the
college
> to join or participate, and faculty and students gain access to "the big
> iron."
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Mark S. Waterbury
>
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